Improved s-hips armor-plates



'tlnrrsn @Sierras Farrar @Fries II. WARDEN, ,0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

lWl PVRDVED Svi-HPS AiRMORPL/TES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. ng, dated February 25;1.862.

To all whom t may concern.

B e it known that I, H. H. WAEDEN, of No. 5() Wall street, in the city,county, and Sta-te of New York, have invented a new and Im proved Armorfor Vessels or Ships of War; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a 4iull, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying draw ings, making a part of this specification7in which- Figure lis a perspective view of one of the plates whichconstitute the armor, one corner of lhe plate being broken away to showmore clearly the invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same.Fig. 3 represents a web or latticework ot' Wrought iron which isembedded in the plate when it is cast.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts inthe severalfigures.

.lt is a well-ascertained fact that ships ot war clad with plates madeof either wrought or cast iron alone are incapable of withstanding theforce ot' cannon-balls or projectiles thrown against them from riiledordnance. When these plates are made of wrought-iron, balls orprojectiles thrown against them with any conA siderable force have theeectto part the fibers of the iron and pass through them into the ship,and when made of castiron the balls or projectiles, instead ot' passingthrough the plates, simply fracture them, when they will fallinfragments from the sides ot' the ship into the vater and leave a nakedor bare spot on the ship. y y

The object ot this invention is to obtain plates ot' cast iron or caststeel for covering vessels or ships ot' war, which, while they are asliable to fracture as ordinary eastmetal plates, when fractured will notleave their places on the sides of' the ships, thereby uti' fcrdingprotection to the ship tor a longer pe` rind,

Ihe invention consists in embedding a'web or lattice-work of wroughtiron in a castiron or cast-steel plate. The superiority ot' the platethus made over either a wrought, castiron, or steel plate as a coveringfor vessels or ships of war consists herein, that while it possesses thesame hardness as either alone it combines the advantages of both wroughtand cast metal, inasmuch as the plates, though fractured,ad heretogether and do not become separated and leave a bare spot on the sideof the ship, even after repeated shots against them.

'llo enable others skilled in the art to l'ully understand and constructmy invention, I will proceed to describe it.

In the accompanying drawings,A represents one ot the plates embodying myimpro vement, and which constitute the armor for the ship. 'lhis plateis made in rectangular form ot' castiron or steel, with a web orlattice-work ot' wrought iron embedded in it when it is cast, and it maybe made of any desired length, width, or thickness.

Bis the web or lattice-work of wroughtiron, which is embedded in theplate. This web or lattice work for plates of halt an inch in thicklness may be made ot" common hoop iron, and

for pla-tes of three and four inches in thickness may be made of commonbarrircn. The bars ot iron to form the web are first placed across eachother in the manner shown in Fig. 3, and riveted together at the pointsof intersection, after which the ends ot the bars are cut oi' even withthe side and end pieces; or they may be cut to the proper length beforethey are riveted together. When the plates are to be made, this web orlatticework et' wrought iron is placed in the mold so as to havethe'cast metal about equally divided on both sides ot' it, formingthrough the middle et the plate horizontzltlly alternate layers ot'wrought and cast metal. The plates are put upon the sides ot' the shipso as to abut each other, and may be secured to theship by bolts passingthrough them from the outside and fastened by screwnuts on the insideot' the hull ot' the ship, or they may be secured iu any other suitablemanner.

I do not confine myselfto any particular size or shape of plate, as itis evident that my invention is equally applicable to plates ot' any andevery size and shape.

I do not claim, broadly, the. casting of iron upon wrought-iron; nor dol claim, broadly, the employment ot' wrought iron lattice-work inshipbuilding.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new a'nd desire to secureby Letters Pat` ent- As an improved article of manufacture, anarmorplate for ships, com posed of a wrought iron frame embedded withina cast-iron body, substantially as herein shown and described.

l1. H. WARDEN. 1lv'itncsses:

J. W. CooMns, JAMES Laino.

